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Movile Cave

43°49′32″N 28°33′38″E / 43.825694°N 28.560556°E / 43.825694; 28.560556

Movile Cave
Romanian: Peștera Movile
LocationNear Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania
Coordinates43°49′32″N 28°33′38″E / 43.825694°N 28.560556°E / 43.825694; 28.560556
Discovery1986
Entrances1 (artificial)
HazardsHypoxic atmosphere, with dangerous levels of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia
FeaturesNaturally sealed cave containing unique ecosystem supported by chemosynthesis
Movile Cave is located in Europe
Movile Cave
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Location of Movile Cave within Europe
Movile Cave is located in Romania
Movile Cave
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Location of Movile Cave within Romania

Movile Cave (Romanian: Peștera Movile) is a cave near Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania discovered in 1986 by Cristian Lascu a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast.[1] It is notable for its unique groundwater ecosystem abundant in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, but low in oxygen. Life in the cave has been separated from the outside for the past 5.5 million years and it is based completely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.[1]

Similar caves where life partly or fully depends on chemosynthesis have been found in Ein-Nur Cave and Ayalon Cave (Israel), Frasassi Caves (Italy), Melissotrypa Cave (Elassona municipality, Greece), Tashan Cave (Iran), caves in the Sharo-Argun Valley in the Caucasus Mountains, Lower Kane Cave and Cesspool Cave (Wyoming and Alleghany County, VA, USA), and Villa Luz Cave (Mexico).[2][3]

Description

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Movile Cave is a network of paths[dubious – discuss] in limestone that are approximately 200 metres (660 ft) long,[citation needed] with portions that are partially or fully submerged by hydrothermal waters. The temperature of the air and water is a constant 21°C (70°F) and the relative humidity is about 100%.[4] Access to the cave is limited to a few researchers per year, to minimize external impact on the delicate ecosystem.[5]

Chemical environment

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The air in the cave is very different from the outer atmosphere. The level of oxygen is only a third to half of the concentration found in open air (7–10% O2 in the cave atmosphere, compared to 21% O2 in air), and about one hundred times more carbon dioxide (2–3.5% CO2 in the cave atmosphere, versus 0.04% CO2 in air). It also contains 1–2% methane (CH4) and both the air and waters of the cave contain high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3).[6] The water in the lake only contains dissolved oxygen for the first centimeter, at most, and in some places only the first millimeter. Deeper down the lake water becomes completely anoxic.[7]

Biology

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The cave is known to contain 57 animal species,[8][9] among them leeches, spiders, pseudoscorpions,[10] woodlice,[11] a centipede,[12] a water scorpion (Nepa anophthalma),[13] and also a snail.[14] Of these, 37 are endemic.[8][9] The food chain is based on chemosynthesis by methane- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, which in turn release nutrients for other bacteria, and fungi. This forms microbial mats on the cave walls and the surface of lakes and ponds, which are grazed on by some of the animals. The grazers are then preyed on by predatory species.[15] Nepa anophthalma is the only known cave-adapted water scorpion in the world.[13] While animals have lived in the cave for 5.5 million years, not all of them arrived simultaneously. One of the most recent animals recorded is the cave's only species of snail, Heleobia dobrogica, which has inhabited the cave for slightly more than 2 million years.[10][1][14]

 
Various aquatic invertebrates from Movile Cave, including Haemopis caeca (A), Asellus aquaticus infernus, (C). Pseudocandona sp., (D) Nepa anophthalma, and (E) Heleobia dobrogica.

Access

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The cave is closed to the general public and only a few researchers are permitted inside each year, in order to minimize disturbance to the fragile ecosystem.[5]

See also

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References

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General references

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  • Jean Balthazar: Grenzen unseres Wissens. Orbis Verlag, München 2003, Seite 268, ISBN 3-572-01370-4.
  • Sarbu, Serban M.; Kane, Thomas C.; Kinkle, Brian K. (28 June 1996). "A Chemoautotrophically Based Cave Ecosystem". Science. 272 (5270): 1953–1955. Bibcode:1996Sci...272.1953S. doi:10.1126/science.272.5270.1953. PMID 8662497. S2CID 23842700.
  • Wischer, Daniela; Kumaresan, Deepak; Johnston, Antonia; El Khawand, Myriam; Stephenson, Jason; Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Alexandra M; Chen, Yin; Colin Murrell, J (January 2015). "Bacterial metabolism of methylated amines and identification of novel methylotrophs in Movile Cave". The ISME Journal. 9 (1): 195–206. Bibcode:2015ISMEJ...9..195W. doi:10.1038/ismej.2014.102. PMC 4274414. PMID 25050523.

Inline citations

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  1. ^ a b c Fox-Skelly, Jasmin (4 September 2015). "The bizarre beasts living in Romania's poison cave". BBC Earth. Archived from the original on 31 May 2021.
  2. ^ Sârbu, Şerban M. "The fascinating biology of stinky caves", - ARPHA Conference Abstracts, 25th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cluj-Napoca, 18-22 July 2022. Re-accessed 23 March 2024.
  3. ^ Chiciudean, I., Russo, G., Bogdan, D.F. et al. "Competition-cooperation in the chemoautotrophic ecosystem of Movile Cave: first metagenomic approach on sediments." Environmental Microbiome 17, 44 (2022). Permanent doi.org/10.1186/s40793-022-00438-w. Re-accessed 23 March 2024.
  4. ^ Kumaresan, Deepak; Wischer, Daniela; Stephenson, Jason; Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Alexandra Maria (January 2014). "Microbiology of Movile Cave — A Chemolithoautotrophic Ecosystem". Geomicrobiology. 31 (3): 186. Bibcode:2014GmbJ...31..186K. doi:10.1080/01490451.2013.839764. S2CID 84472119. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Movile Cave". GESS LAB, Mangalia. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  6. ^ Kumaresan, Deepak; Wischer, Daniela; Stephenson, Jason; Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Alexandra; Murrell, J. Colin (16 March 2014). "Microbiology of Movile Cave—A Chemolithoautotrophic Ecosystem". Geomicrobiology Journal. 31 (3): 186–193. Bibcode:2014GmbJ...31..186K. doi:10.1080/01490451.2013.839764. S2CID 84472119.
  7. ^ The Chemoautotrophically Based Movile Cave Groundwater Ecosystem, a Hotspot of Subterranean Biodiversity
  8. ^ a b GESS Lab. (2020). Movile Cave - a unique ecosystem. Gesslab. https://www.gesslab.org/movile-cave
  9. ^ a b GESS Lab. (2020a). List of invertebrate species encountered and described in the Movile Cave ecosystem. https://fecc112f-3776-4476-a602-1572b7478186.filesusr.com/ugd/1e4de5_ebb50699a75848bbb0c3f12a65da4c5d.pdf
  10. ^ a b Nag, Oishimaya Sen (25 April 2017). "Movile Cave - An Oddity Of Romania". WorldAtlas.
  11. ^ Karen Graham: Movile Cave in Romania has an ecosystem unlike any other on Earth. In: DigitalJournal. 25 May 2016. Source: Science
  12. ^
  13. ^ a b Decu, Vasile; Gruia, Magdalena; Keffer, S. L.; Sarbu, Serban Mircea (1 November 1994). "Stygobiotic Waterscorpion, Nepa anophthalma, n. sp. (Heteroptera: Nepidae), from a Sulfurous Cave in Romania". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 87 (6): 755–761. doi:10.1093/aesa/87.6.755.
  14. ^ a b Andrzej Falniowski, Magdalena Szarowska, Ioan Sirbu, Alexandra Hillebrand, Mihai Baciu: Heleobia dobrogica (Grossu & Negrea, 1989)(Gastropoda: Rissooidea: Cochliopidae) and the estimated time of its isolation in a continental analogue of hydrothermal vents. In: Molluscan Research 28(3): pp 165-170. 22 Dec 2008. ISSN 1323-5818
  15. ^ "Microbial food webs in Movile Cave". UK Research and Innovation.
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